A heated row erupted during the men’s curling at the Winter Olympics after Sweden accused Canada of cheating during their defeat.
Canada beat Sweden 8-6 at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on Friday but Marc Kennedy angrily hit back at Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson after he was accused of breaking the rules.
Eriksson complained that Kennedy and other members of the Canadian team had double-touched the stone when releasing.
A second touch by the person delivering the stone before the hog line is not a violation, but a second touch is not permitted if the stone is inside the line.
Kennedy was furious with the accusation and television cameras caught his bust-up with Eriksson after the Swede had complained to officials.
‘Apparently it’s alright touching the rock after the hog line,’ Eriksson said to Kennedy.
‘Who?’ Kennedy asked.
‘It’s a couple,’ Eriksson replied.
Kennedy then hit back: ‘I haven’t done it once, you can f*** off.’
‘You haven’t done it once?’ Eriksson asked.
‘I haven’t done it once,’ Kennedy replied.
‘Okay, I’ll show you a video after the game,’ Eriksson said.
‘How about you walking around my peel and dancing around the house? How about that? C’mon Oskar, just f*** off,’ Kennedy said as he turned away towards his team.
‘Do you want me to show you the video?’ Eriksson asked again.
‘I don’t give a s***. They were standing here and didn’t call it,’ Kennedy said.
Speaking after Sweden’s defeat, Eriksson said: ‘It’s sad that it happens like this. We have tried to prevent them from hitting the stone, in our opinion, after the hogline. It is not allowed to hit any part other than the handle
‘The head referee didn’t know the rule book and we had to correct them. Then the referees didn’t dare do anything.’
Statement from World Curling after Sweden row with Canada
Following the situations arising from the Sweden versus Canada game in men’s session four on Friday (13 February) evening, several issues require clarification.
Use of Video Replay
World Curling does not currently use video replay to re-umpire game decisions. Decisions made during a game are final.
Delivery Violations
Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction. However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends. During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.
When delivering a stone, before the hog line players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish. However, touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed and will result in a the stone being removed from play as per Rule R.5 (e) that states: “A stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If the player fails to do so, the stone is immediately removed from play by the delivering team.”
During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.
As per rule R.5 (d) “The curling stone must be delivered using the handle of the stone.” Violation of this rule, will result in the stone being removed from play.
It is not possible for World Curling to have game umpires positioned to observe all hog lines for every stone delivery. However, beginning with the Saturday (14 February) afternoon session, two officials will move between all four sheets and observe deliveries.
Inappropriate Behaviour
Following the Friday evening session, World Curling spoke with the Canadian officials to issue a verbal warning regarding the language used by a Canadian men’s player during the game.
During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behaviour, determined by rule R.19 would result in additional sanctions.
Rule R.19 states: “Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or wilful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organisation having jurisdiction.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy claimed Eriksson was ‘upset’ because Sweden were losing during the match.
‘I don’t like being accused of cheating after 25 years on tour and four Olympic Games,’ said Kennedy.
‘He [Eriksson] pulled a hogline official on us to make sure we weren’t double touching. The hogline official was there for six ends, never said a thing.
‘He’s still accusing us of cheating, and I didn’t like it, so I told him where to stick it because we’re the wrong team to do that to.
‘So I don’t care. He might have been upset that he was losing.’
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